


Of Leveling and Grinding

by ForeverTheSky



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Eventual Romance, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Literal New Game, M/M, Ren didn't ask for this, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 08:42:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14398422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForeverTheSky/pseuds/ForeverTheSky
Summary: Really, Ren never asked for this. He never asked for the HP bars, the name labels, and any other features that indicated he was in some messed up RPG game to suddenly burst into the existence of his life.He was supposed to serve his probation without any complications.He really,reallynever wanted any of this.





	Of Leveling and Grinding

Ren wants to bash his head repeatedly into the nearest wall.

Or cry.

Anything to end the misery that the gods had bestowed on him because they decided that his insufferable life wasn’t enough to leave severe psychological trauma on his person. Even now he could practically hear them snickering in that degrading way he imagines every divine being possessed and laughing until their breaths ran thin. Good, he hopes they suffer from lack of oxygen, or whatever elemental components of air they need to survive, and die.

Wait, could gods even die?

“What the hell are you doing?”

That was his cue to end his potentially profound train of thoughts, stop the intimacy between his head and the wall where it was lodged in, and smoothly wipe away tears that had gathered from underneath his glasses with the edge of his black blazer sleeves. Ren’s search for the owner of the incredulous and astonish sounding voice led him to the glaring gray eyes of a middle-aged man with slicked-back black hair, glasses, and a goatee of all things. The man was wearing a green apron and—Ren connects the dots to his observation and schools his features to one of indifference in hopes of saving what remains of his dignity—had the mahogany door in his hand only slightly ajar, apparently prepared to lock himself inside the building if it turns out that Ren was a rabid sociopath or anything of that sort. Ren don’t think he’s that far off if the stink eye directed towards him was any indication. He twitches the corners of his mouth into a smile that he knows will unfortunately just confirm the suspicion that he is indeed a person with murderous tendency and gives a little wave like he wasn’t contemplating how life and death factors into the world of gods just minutes before.

(Ren definitely ignores the ‘???’ and the HP bar that is without a doubt above the man’s head.)

The man’s eyes melts to exasperation and gives an audible sigh that is no less rude than it is deserving. Even _he_ feels bad for making a complete stranger put up with his shenanigans before officially meeting him.

“I was wondering why there was banging outside. Out of everything I was expecting to see, an idiotic kid trying to injure himself was not one of them.” The guy emphasizes on the stupidity of the whole ordeal by closing his eyes—the sight of Ren was too pitiful to even glance at, pinching the bridge of his nose, and placing a hand on a hip in a way that if the knowledge of his age wasn’t clear before, it was certainly clear now. He murmurs a ‘come in’ and promptly let the door swing shut behind him.

Ren really wants to cry again, but like a big boy he supposes he appears to be, the boy in the stuffy uniform pushes up his glasses—there are annoying scratches along the frames, just _perfect_ —to reclaim his position as a highly intelligent individual in this godforsaken society, readjust the grip on his shoulder bag, and opens the door of the café to follow the man inside.

('Enter?')

When Ren enters the café, ‘Leblanc’ he recalls from the sign outside, it’s to a homey atmosphere of the place that assaults his senses. Different shades of brown come together to enhance the curious feeling of warmth, the dominant scent of coffee wafts through the air with the more subverted scent of something that contains a certain spiciness, and the only customers being an old married couple who was watching the blaring television spouting about news in relation to a public transit bus—Ren wasn’t really listening—provide a sense of relaxation the teen really needs for once in his life. Ren, in the midst of his assessment of the place, spots the person he did not give the greatest first impression to sitting in one of the bar stools near the counter with what seems like a crossword puzzle in his hands.

And, yep, his gaze is on him, scrutinizing his very soul. Devouring any confidence that makes up his being. _Great_.

There was a brief conversation between the three occupants of the room—Ren wasn’t paying attention again because he was assembling the correct facial expressions that would at least make him look presentable and sane this time around—before the couple was gone and Ren was left to fend for himself and deal with the man alone.

He supposes the expression was more fitting the other way around.

Who he assumes is the owner of the small establishment, and most likely his caretaker, turns toward him with a look that is transparent of the exact emotions he is feeling. Displeasure. “So you’re Amamiya Ren?”

“Please take care of me.” If he has nothing else, then at the very least Ren still knows how to be polite like a decent human being.

“I’m Sakura Sojiro. You’ll be in my custody over the next year.”

Ren quickly glances up above Sojiro’s head and sure enough the ‘???’ was replaced with the name ‘Sakura Sojiro’. He averts his eyes from the change just as quick to avoid increasing the list of things that makes Sojiro hate him.

“I was wondering what kind of unruly kid would show up, but you’re the one, huh?” Sojiro gives a wry smile that creates a growing urge in Ren to walk back outside and repeat his previous action of banging his head against the wall. “Have you been told? A customer of mine and your parents know each other and—well, not that that matters. Follow me.”

Arriving in the attic, Ren was thoroughly blessed with the holy sight of dust and garbage. Random junk that seems to have no purpose grow in significant amount as he swept his eyes to the entirety of the room and oh wow, is that a bird’s carcass or was he hallucinating?

His guardian looks about the new area in a way that defines the relief of not having to place sanctuary anywhere near this horrendous “space.” “This is your room,” Ren died a little inside, “I’ll at least give you sheets for your bed.” He must have noticed Ren’s barely concealed disgust because Sojiro raises his eyebrows and addresses him. “You look like you wanna say something.”

“It’s big.” He lies, y’know,

Like a _liar_.

“It’s on you to clean up the rest,” apparently Sojiro could smell bullshit from a mile away, “I’ll be leaving after I lock up each day. You’ll be alone at night, but don’t do anything stupid,” “ _like today_ ” went unsaid. “I’ll throw you out if you cause any trouble.” Welp, there goes his relationship points.

“Now then,” the slight shift in Sojiro’s tone withdraws Ren from his thoughts, “I got the gist of your situation.” He crosses his arms and rubs his fingers against his chin to bring forth more attention to the things he is about to say. “You protected some woman from a man forcing himself on her, he got injured, then sued you, right? That’s what you get for sticking your nose in a matter between two adults. You did injure him, yeah? And now that you’ve got a criminal record, you were expelled from your high school.” Aggravation he can’t suppress starts to fill Ren’s core because evidently, that’s what he gets for being a good citizen. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that adults with power could get away with anything they want, but he still remembers the ugliness that is betrayal when the victim testified against him.

“The courts ordered you to transfer and move out here, which your parents also approved,” a smirk stretches across Sojiro’s face, “in other words, they got rid of you for being a pain in the ass.” Ren’s anger deflates and shame overcomes him from the statement because it’s the truth and _it hurts_.

Sojiro, with his magical all-seeing powers must have sensed how much he was willing to sob those manly tears, shifts his position and got to the point. “It’s best you not talk about anything unnecessary. I am in the restaurant business, you know. Behave yourself for the year. If nothing happens, your probation will be lifted. Cause any problems, and you’ll be sent straight to juvie.” His eyes narrows in a clear sign of a threat. In response Ren raises his arms in a gesture of surrender and adopts a look of innocence as if to say ‘I wouldn’t even hurt a fly’.

Ren thinks that sighing is quickly becoming a habit of Sojiro whenever he is around him, but hey, at least it’s better than the spite that permeates his small town after the incident.

“We’ll be going to Shujin tomorrow. We’ll introduce ourselves properly to the staff there. There’s rarely a place that’ll accept someone like you, you know.” The café owner looks to be contemplating life and Ren just finds that to be way too relatable. “What a waste of my Sunday.” Ren is glad that there are some things that his guardian and he have in common, like speaking to oneself.

He’s pathetically trying to connect and he knows it.

“Your luggage arrived earlier,” a nod towards a corner in the room, “I left them over there. I’m going to close up shop and get out of here. I won’t be the one looking after you if you get sick from staying up too late, you got that?” Is he imagining the worry behind that tone of voice? Maybe he did lose some brain cells to those bricks from earlier.

And with that, Sojiro leaves in a blur and only a chime from the front door was evidence he was even here in the first place.

After cleaning up as much as he could—no way he could eradicate all the trash pervading his new room because he isn’t a magician like Sojiro appears to be—Ren proceeds to change into his sleepwear and flops down unceremoniously onto his bed to fully partake in his new job of being a bum and a freeloader.

A ding from his phone wakes him from his partial asleep state before he could hide from the rest of the world and hibernate like a bear in the winter season.

There is a little red app on his phone. _Again_.

Apparently no amount of glaring could make the bugger go away.

Ren might not be the top of his class—he could deduce that much—but he was not a halfwit.

Well, at least not now.

Anyways, he knows that it’s that persistent red that places him in his current predicament. Upon his approach to the bustling city life that is Shibuya, the app made its first ever appearance. Time stopped as if to acknowledge its existence and a being with engulfing blue flames pops out of nowhere. An otherworldly connection draws dark gray eyes to the burning blue, entrancing with its flickering form. Monstrous features similar to eyes and a mouth formed; that was an indication for Ren to run as far as his scrawny legs could possibly take him, but his feet stayed implanted and enchanted, not heeding the warnings of obvious danger. He blinked and the world’s order was restored.

Except that it really didn’t.

Yes, the passage of time and space might have started functioning once again, but there was something glaringly obvious that was amiss.

Question marks and HP bars filled up the whole area. At the upper left corner of his vision he spotted the numbers four and nine, a picture of clouds, and the words ‘saturday’ and ‘afternoon’.

Panic occupies his body like an unwelcome guest, but he knows how to play it cool. He’s been playing it cool ever since he was shoved into a police car with handcuffs that should’ve been shackled around the hands of the drunkard prick who pointed a finger at him and ruined his entire life instead of being on his. He’s been playing it cool ever since the woman he saved backed up the accusation of an offense and his supposed lawyer was no more than a puppet. He’s been playing it cool ever since the judge deemed him guilty all for the sake of getting his crummy hands on wealth that even licking shoes off of important and established people with influence wouldn’t level to that amount. He’s been playing it cool ever since his parents, in a rush, hurriedly placed him on the first train to Shibuya in hopes of ridding the disgrace that he placed on their family name along with him. He’s been playing it cool ever since everyone failed him. He’s been playing it cool ever since _society_ failed him.

But he is only a human and like a human, he has a limit.

Hence the ramming of his head into a wall from earlier.

Perhaps laughing at his misfortune would prove to be a successful coping mechanism to ensure a healthy mental state, but at the moment nothing but a sigh escapes through his lips. He doesn’t want to have a deep philosophical minute pondering on the realism of life itself yet, especially not this late in the day thank you very much.

Ignorance is bliss as they say.

Ren deletes the red creepy eye that was starting to leave him with nightmares, places his phone besides him, and focuses on the task of slumbering; he has a feeling that tomorrow will be a long and exhausting day. He detects that his eyelids are starting to get heavy and shifts into the most comfortable position among the little bits of dusts on the mattress that he wasn’t able to eliminate.

And if he sees a menu screen questioning the decision of going to sleep behind his eyelids, Ren blissfully ignores it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was a vaguely strewn idea I pulled out of my ass.
> 
> This is going to be the first ever fan fiction I officially post, yay!
> 
> I don't have a beta reader so I bet mistakes are everywhere.
> 
> Really wanted to make this first chapter longer, but I got lazy....
> 
> No set update schedule as of current.
> 
> Crossing my fingers that this won't come across as trying too hard to be funny.
> 
> Canon divergence will begin as soon as the next chapter. I think.
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy the ride as I have the opportunity to improve my writing along the way.


End file.
